For several weeks I had been reading The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp out loud to the family every night before bed. This is the story which inspired the Sound of Music.
We finished it a couple of weeks ago. We saved the final chapter for when our oldest daughter came home from college for the summer.
The final chapter in the book is called “Cor Unum” (One Heart). It is the name the Trapps chose for their family home in Vermont. Here is how it came about:
One day last year we felt very strongly that our home had to be given a name. We all sat down together and tried to work it out right away. At first, it seemed to turn into one of those evenings where you can't stop laughing. The lines got funnier and sillier all the time: “Snowplow's Turn”, “Musical Tavern,” “Heaven's Lobby,” “The Lord's View.” An old Chinese proverb says: “Every minute you laugh prolongs your life an hour.” If this is true…
Father Wasner, who had joined us, finally said: “The new name should have a meaning. It should stand for what the place wants to be.”
That made us serious again, and it made us contemplate: what does the place want to be?
Father opened his Latin copy of the New Testament, and his eyes fell on the words of the Acts of the Apostles which describe the life of the first Christians in Jerusalem: “They were one heart and one soul” — “COR UNUM ET ANIMA UNA.”
This Father Wasner read aloud to us, and there was a great silence. It was the answer to what we had been looking for: our new name and our new motto.
After reading this, we started to think about naming our own home. We had moved out to the country some nine months before. Our “new” country home with its two acres, beautiful sunsets seen across the bordering corn fields, our chickens, dogs, and emerging gardens was a sort of dream come true for all of us. We knew God’s blessings were upon us.
We discussed naming our home right then and there — and then some more at subsequent meals and family gatherings. As with the Trapps, the conversation got sillier and sillier. It seemed that the “The Filling Station” was becoming the leading candidate.
I tried to bring sanity back by repeating Fr. Wasner's instructions from the book: “The new name should have a meaning. It should stand for what the place wants to be.” Yet we couldn't get past “The Filling Station.” (“But, Dad we fill our stomachs, our brains, and our spirit here!”) While this argument had some merit — it still didn't have the dignity of a name for our home.
A few days later we had our pastor, Fr. John, over to the house for a meal and to bless our house. In the course of conversation he suddenly asked me if we had given our home a name. When I answered in the negative, he said we should think about it, as the home “deserved a name.”
A week later (still without a name), after serving Mass, my 8-year-old son asked Fr. John for a suggestion on naming our home.
Fr. John replied, “Bethany — it was in Bethany that Jesus found a family home of welcoming friends in Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Bethany is a good name for a home that always welcomes our Lord.”
I think this is what our home “wants to be”: a place which always welcomes our Lord — even if we fail sometimes in this goal.
June is the month dedicated to honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus (feast June 3). Many Catholic families enthrone (or renew the enthronement of) the Sacred Heart of Jesus in their homes as the Lord and King.
This year we will renew our enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our new home, “Bethany,” and also in our hearts. May our home and our hearts always have their doors open to Christ!
Copyright 2005 Jim Curley
Jim Curley is the founder and publisher of Requiem Press, which publishes books focusing on Catholic history. He writes frequently about Catholic life, culture, and other topics on his blog at http://bethunecatholic.blogspot.com. He and his wife Lorelei are parents of seven children and live in Bethune, South Carolina. He can be reached at [email protected].
